There's family (and then there's the ones that love you)
by digthewriter
Summary: ONESHOT: Draco wished that fighting with his parents wasn't a weekly ritual. (Please make sure to read the warnings in the content)


**There's family (and then there's the ones that love you)**

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><p><em>Draco wished that fighting with his parents wasn't a weekly ritual.<em>

**Warnings: **Slash. Discrimination towards Muggleborns. Slight Homophobia. A stressful parents/son relationship. Negative family dynamics. Drama. Fluff(ish) ending.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own the characters depicted in this fanfiction. This story was written for fun and not for profit. No offence is intended to any of the parties involved.

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><p>Draco watched as his mother took a sip of her tea and pursed her lips into a thin line. He knew it was coming — he could feel it. He took a deep sigh and waited.<p>

"Why hasn't Harry joined us today, dear?" she asked. Okay, that was a lot more polite than he'd expected. Last time his mother hadn't asked a question, rather, accused Draco's boyfriend of simply _hating_ them.

"He's just got a lot on his plate, Mother," Draco said. _Like I've already told you five times today_. Draco wished he could just snap at her — then she'd at least shut up, get cross with him and walk away. It was easier to keep her at arm's length and it was even less difficult to snap at his father, because then his mother would go to his aid and all about Harry would be forgotten and all they'd focus on how Draco was being _so uncivil_.

_A Weasley influence, I'm sure_! He could always _hear_ the accusation in his head, even if his father wouldn't utter those words. They'd never actually approved of him dating Harry, and being involved with the Weasleys only fuelled the fire.

The Weasleys were alright, of course. It had taken Draco a very long time to come to terms with that, but the fact that he was actually _in love_ with Harry Potter was something he hadn't ever thought would be something he'd admit, too.

He could see why his father didn't like them. After all these years, it made sense. The Weasleys exuded warmth, loyalty..._love_. Something the Dark Lord or the Death Eaters were completely ignorant of; they only wanted power, prestige..._status_. His father didn't support the Dark Lord because he was loyal to him, but because he was afraid of him. His father craved influence, yet the Weasleys supported Harry because they _loved_ him. Even after he'd broken their daughter's heart, they'd loved him and stayed loyal to him. His father could never understand that. He didn't even see the loyalty his mother had for him; he'd only taken it and her for granted.

Maybe...maybe that's why Harry was the way he was. He had the power that everyone else around Draco craved. But they didn't have what Harry had and they never would.

"If you're only going to be lost in your thoughts, Draco, then you might as well not be here." His mother glared at him as she stirred her tea again. She wasn't even drinking it, not really, and his father was too busy to come down from his office so really, Draco didn't understand why he was there, either. Yet, he knew that if hadn't shown up, then it would only be worse the next time.

"I'm sorry, Mother. I'm just thinking about a case, but, I'm here. Apologies, again," Draco said as he picked up his own cup of cold tea and took a sip from him. He couldn't help but grimace after and then his mother shook her head.

"You know that your father and I love you very much, dear. We just want to make sure you're happy."

"I'm very happy, Mother."

"Are you?"

"I'm a lot happier than I would have been if you'd married me off to Astoria," Draco retorted. His stomach turned as he realised that he probably should have just kept _that_ piece of information to himself.

She scowled again. "That was your father's proposition, not mine. I support you both. I wish you could only understand how hard it is to be torn in two directions all the time! I just wish—I just wish you would actually _try_ to get along with him."

Right. Being torn in two different directions? Draco had _no_ idea what _that_ was like.

"Well, he isn't even here today. However, I do have an excellent relationship with his empty chair," Draco answered. This time, he didn't care that he bit out the first thing he'd thought of. Really, maybe the faster he offended her, the faster he could leave. Then he'd be back with Harry and it would be so much better. Harry was a lot better at defusing the tension than Draco, anyway.

"I know what you're doing," she said, one eyebrow raised.

He didn't respond.

"Your technique of picking a fight only works with your father. He isn't here to storm out so you can take your leave."

Draco struggled to stay impassive. He wondered if he'd been speaking his thoughts out loud without realising it. "That isn't what I am doing, Mother. I just don't wish to argue today."

"Well, I do not wish to argue, either!" She half-laughed her response and then summoned the house-elf to bring dessert.

Draco sighed. He wasn't sure if he was glad that the passive-aggressive fight was over or annoyed that now he had to stay for dessert.

"So how is work?" she asked as she cut a piece of the cheesecake.

"Very well!" Draco responded excitedly; anything to change the topic. "I'm working on a deposition for a wrongful termination case. My client is accusing her former employer that she was fired because she's a Muggleborn, while they'd told her that they had to let her go because of budget cuts. But then they turned around and hired a less qualified man that was recommended by someone on the Executive Board."

"Well, are you sure that isn't just hearsay?" his mother asked looking half-interested.

"Well, no. They'd sacked her boss first because he'd passed over the Board's recommendations since he actually looked at the credentials of the individuals applying. After that, they sacked anyone that was a Muggleborn and hired either purebloods or those that came from a well-named family. It's really sad that this sort of things still happens today."

"You know what your father will say about that," she said, waving her hand in the air.

"Yes, I know _exactly_ what he has to say about that. He'd support them." Draco couldn't help but make a disgusted face. His father was on said Board.

"Are you _sure_ that this woman wasn't just unqualified? You know, maybe she was a bit 'loose' and flirted around the office. She must have been let go for more than just being a Mud— Muggleborn. You know how they are, anyway."

"How _are_ they?" Draco asked, aching with the pain of not being able to raise his voice.

"Pureblood customs are ingrained into our system from the day we are born. Muggleborns don't know how to behave in our society—they aren't _taught_ the way we are. They're unsophisticated and I cannot believe that they still don't offer classes at Hogwarts or any other wizarding schools to them."

Draco's hands were balled into fists as he rested them under the table. He could not believe that his mother — the woman that was responsible for saving Harry — still felt this way. Still said the things she did. Still believed that Muggleborns needed lessons on how to behave in a wizarding society.

"What sort of classes?" he asked, knowing full well what she was on about.

She shrugged and took a bite of her cake. "I don't know. Muggles are too crass; I think that if their children were lucky enough to be born with magic, they should still stay in their corner of the world."

Draco shook his head. "So you think it's okay for someone to sack a Muggleborn for being just that, and to to hire a pureblood wizard instead? Because they'd get along better with everyone else?"

"Well..." She paused to think it over. "I just think that _some_ people get along with their own kind. I am sure that this Muggleborn woman didn't understand the customs and was probably making everyone else uncomfortable—"

"Uncomfortable? For what? Being human?" The disdain in Draco's voice was peeking through.

"It's not her fault. She was born that way. I don't understand why Muggleborns try so hard to blend into our society and then cause a ruckus when they don't. Why don't they just stay with their own kind? If she wants to work as a high executive, they should just start their own firm."

"And where is she going to get the experience of running a firm if she keeps getting fired for being a Muggleborn?" Draco asked. He pushed his plate of cheesecake away as he was sure that if he actually ate something, he'd have a tough time keeping it down.

"Bad luck, I reckon," she said. "She could try with another company. I'm sure there are plenty of people hiring. She could just get another job."

Draco snorted; he couldn't help himself. _She could just get another job_. "Yes, because it's so easy for Muggleborns to find employment when the entire wizarding world is full of people like you and Father."

"I don't understand why you're taking that tone with me, Draco," she said, anger visible in her eyes. "Hermione Granger has a job at the Ministry. Why doesn't this woman just go and work for her? Why does she need to come and cry to you? I still can't believe that you help these people for free!"

Draco sighed. So the same song and dance again? _Shall we_? "Mother, I work in the Pro Bono Publico Unit at the Wizengamot. Our job is to help those that are victims of wrongful doings in the wizarding world. Remember that? Wrongful doings — thanks to someone called Voldemort?"

"I do not appreciate that tone that you're taking with me, Draco." His mother sneered at him.

"Right. I still don't understand...why did you save Harry all those years ago, then? I can't believe that you helped him like that. For free!"

"He does owe me a life-debt for that," she argued. "And you know I saved his life because I wanted to make certain _you_ were alright. I was saving you!"

"Yes, and now thanks to you, I save all those poor and pathetic Muggleborns," Draco answered with a smirk. "And I know all about the life-debt. You hold it over his head since we've started dating. Making sure that he stops by for dinner once a week."

She groaned with frustration and if he wasn't so sure that his mother had always been able to keep herself poised, Draco would have thought that she'd bang her hands against the table. "I only care about you. I need to see for myself that he keeps you happy. Make sure that he isn't—"

"He isn't what?" Draco raised an eyebrow.

She sighed and started to fidget with her napkin. "Nothing..."

"No, Mother..." _Now we're actually getting somewhere_. "What do you need to make sure?"

"Well he's always been in the news about how he's so promiscuous. He dated that Weasley girl for a few years after the war, then...what? He just _decided_ that he was gay? And then he dragged you in that lifestyle with him. I just...I need to see if it's real, Draco. Make sure he isn't making you do something—"

Draco gasped or he laughed or maybe it was a little bit of both because he didn't really recognise the noise he'd released. His mother actually thought that? Harry Potter the adulterate Queer-Saviour was corrupting her innocent little son by taking him down the evil path of homosexuality? _That_ and the fact that she believed whatever she read in the _Prophet_?

Wow, she needed to get out, or at least leave the house without his father once in a while. Draco was sure that the words that his mother had uttered were nothing but the thoughts of his father. Of course Lucius Malfoy would think that Harry had tainted his son, and thus, bastardized the Malfoy name.

"_Mother_..." Draco paused for a moment to ensure that he had her full and undivided attention. "_I_ pursued Harry. He didn't make me do anything that I hadn't volunteered to do in the first place. I went after his affections, and his body..." His mother flinched a bit at that bit of information, but Draco continued to speak. "...not the other way around." It was the most Draco could say without going into details of how he was the one that had pushed Harry against the wall at the dingy Muggle club, and how it was _his_ hand that had travelled down the Saviour's trousers and got him off.

"You don't have to protect him, Draco. We all know what he did to you in your sixth-year!"

"Mother!" Draco stood up abruptly from his chair. "I don't know how many times I can say this to you and in how many ways...I love him. He loves me. We are _happy_."

"What do you know about happiness?" she retorted.

"What do _you_?" Draco replied. He glared down at his mother for a moment before she'd looked up at him and then he schooled his expression. This was exactly what he'd expected and he didn't even know why he allowed himself to get so worked up like that.

"Draco..."

"Well, it's been interesting, Mother," Draco said before she could ask anything else of him or say something else that would only boil his blood more. "If you'll excuse me, I need to get back to work on my deposition to save those pesky Muggleborns and return to my dubious homosexual lifestyle."

His mother rolled her eyes first, but then Draco could see the hint of panic on her face. "Will you and Harry—"

"Yes. We'll be here for dinner on Wednesday. Not to worry."

"I wasn't worried. I know Mr Potter is good at remembering his appointments. I was just reminding you."

_Mr Potter is it, now?_ Draco shook his head. He went around the table to kiss his mother on the cheek and then made his way to the Floo. A moment later, he was at Grimmauld Place.

Draco went up the stairs to the study where he knew Harry would be, and crashed on the sofa that was beside the desk. He muffled his groan with one of the cushions and heard Harry chuckling. Looking up at Harry's smiling face, Draco threw the cushion at his boyfriend. "Shut up," he growled.

"That bad?" Harry asked.

"You know how I said the other day that I was thinking of quitting my job?" Draco asked, and started to push his shoes off his feet, while he settled himself on the sofa.

"Yeah?" Harry drawled.

"My mother basically convinced me to trudge on," he answered. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. "I need to keep doing what I'm doing if the world is going to keep being the way it is."

"So it wasn't _that_ bad," Harry said and Draco felt Harry's weight dip into the sofa. Harry removed Draco's socks and started to massage his feet. "Your parents _are_ very inspiring."

Draco opened his eyes and glowered at Harry. "You owe me for taking one for the team today, _Mr_ Potter." He pulled Harry towards him so they were facing each other, head-to-toe. "I suggest you best start making it up to me." He bucked his hips up and felt Harry's half-hard prick through his trousers. Draco himself was painfully aroused.

"Of course, _Mr_ Malfoy," Harry said. "I'll get on that right away!" Harry scooted down on the sofa so he could begin unbuckling Draco's belt. He unbuttoned the trousers and pulled the zipper down to release Draco's cock.

Before Draco could say something else to him, Harry licked the head of Draco's cock and then wrapped his mouth around it. Draco gasped in surprise. He rose up on his elbows so he could watch. He loved watching Harry take him like that; the sight of Harry, the Saviour of the wizarding world, the most "noble" man around, worshipping Draco's cock.

Draco came with a cry and Harry continued to suck and lick him until he was satisfied. Harry pulled up to Draco's body again and rested his head on Draco's chest. "What about you?" Draco asked.

Harry made a noncommittal sound. "It's all about you tonight," he said.

Draco shook his head. "What did you do?" he asked. Not that Harry wasn't always all-giving or that Draco wasn't used to being on the receiving end of pleasure before, but something in Harry's tone made him feel like there was more.

"You know that thing you said about taking one for the team?" Harry looked up and locked gazes with Draco. Draco furrowed his brows. "Well, I wasn't able to get you out of the Weasley Sunday brunch so—"

Draco laughed. "That's fine. I'll go," he said and stroked Harry's hair.

"You will?" Harry asked, surprised, but still smiling.

Draco nodded and then pushed Harry off him. He buttoned up his trousers and guided Harry towards the bedroom.

Usually if Draco was forced to go to the Malfoy Manor on his own, then Harry would go to the Burrow by himself. It was the only time they had that they'd spent apart — usually when bombarded with work — and forced to bring it home.

He smiled at the thought of the coming weekend. He would rarely admit it to himself, let alone anyone else, however, after having spent a day with someone who had a very twisted view of the world — it was going to be nice to be surrounded by people who radiated nothing but unconditional love.

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><p><em>The End<em>

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><p>Thank you for reading!<p> 


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